A popular mainland Chinese blogger who cast doubts on China’s casualties during a border clash with India last year was jailed for eight months on Monday after being convicted of  “defaming heroes and martyrs.”

Chou Ziming, who has more than 2.5 million followers on his Sina Weibo microblog account, has become the first person to have been convicted under the new charge that mainland authorities passed into law in March.

In addition to his jail term, the 38-year-old blogger was also ordered by Nanjing Jianye People’s Court on Monday to make a public apology on major online platforms and national media outlets for his crime within 10 days.

Chou “smeared” the Chinese soldiers on the border and “twisted their heroic deeds” in two messages he posted on his Sina Weibo account on Feb. 19, the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily said, citing the judges. His messages were quickly circulated on the internet, harming society, the report said.

The court had accepted the eight-month jail term proposed by prosecutors after taking into consideration Chou’s guilty plea and his pledge of not committing the offense again, the report said.

Chou, a former journalist and holder of a master’s degree in law, wrote in his blog in February that the Chinese army must have suffered heavier casualties in the border clash last June than the four deaths announced by the authorities.

Chinese military officials delayed releasing the death toll until February, six months after the clash on the disputed Himalayan border took place.

Chou was arrested by Nanjing police on March 1, and authorities posted a video online showing the blogger admitting to his offense on the same day. “I feel very guilty about the inhumane act I committed. I deeply regret it,” he said in the video.

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